The MNSAH fall tour features the midcentury modern home of MNSAH members Katherine and Jeff Tane. The event will include a tour of the 1954 Norman Nagel design, located at 1778 Colvin Avenue in St. Paul’s Highland Park; an illustrated talk by past MNSAH President Laura Weber on the research she has completed on the neighborhood, the house, and its architect; and will conclude with a reception in the home’s landscaped gardens. 

Commissioned by the family of St. Paul attorney Charles and Helen Murnane, the house includes many built-ins, a wall of windows along the back, and a brick fireplace at the center of the living room, as well as as well as original bluestone floors and walls. 

The Tanes have preserved the midcentury aesthetic of the home through its furnishings and a sympathetic 2017 enlargement. The house is located on a picturesque one-acre wooded lot, including spectacular landscaping that takes full advantage of the sloping backyard, which overlooks a ravine. 

The site of the Tane home was originally part of the 160-acre William Davern Farm. Davern’s Italianate style wood farmhouse, circa 1862, still stands at 1173 S. Davern Street. The present-day neighborhood was developed after the 1940s. Other midcentury modern homes on this stretch of Colvin include designs by Close Associates, Ellerbe & Co., Robert Cerny, as well as one other Nagle house, all built in the mid-1950s.  

Norman Nagel (1918–1965) was educated at the University of Minnesota and Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he was head of the design department in 1946. From 1947–49 he worked for Eliel and Eero Saarinen in Detroit. He returned to Minnesota in 1948, where he was an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota until 1952, when he resigned to become curator of architecture and design at the Walker Art Center. He later became an associate professor in the School of Architecture at the U. He was a partner in the firm of Graffunder, Nagle and Associates from 1956 to 1962. A 2007 MNSAH tour on Stonebridge Boulevard in St. Paul included a number of Nagle designs, including residences of Stanley S. and Toby Miller, Sumner and Marilyn Miller, and Lee Sutton Jr.  

The Details 
Date: Saturday, September 27, 2025
Time: 3:00-5:00 p.m., including tour, presentation, and reception
Location: 1778 Colvin Avenue, Highland Park, St. Paul
Parking: Parking is available on the street      
Cost: $20 for members and $30 for non-members
Register:   https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mnsah-fall-tour-2025-tane-house-highland-park-saint-paul-tickets-1653105074779?aff=oddtdtcreator
Payment options are online through PayPal or by check to MNSAH, c/o Bob Frame, Treasurer, 178 Goodrich Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55102 
Questions: Email info@mnsah.org